i AMENEMHAT III.

which was on the west bank of the river, a Httle to the south of the modern town of Wadi Haifa, therefore Usertsen III. had no need toestabhsh a fortress here. Three miles to the south of the famous rock of Abusir (Abu-Sir), at the foot of the Second Cataract, he built another fort and a temple, and their remains are to be seen to this day close to the Ka'lat Ma'atuka. The fort stood at the mouth of the Wadi Ma'atuka, which was at one time much frequented by caravans. About thirty-five miles further to the south he built the fortresses of Semna and Kumma,' but of the temples which he, no doubt, founded there, no remains exist. The next place to the south where the name of Usertsen III. is found is Gebel Dosha, the bold sandstone rock which serves as the boundary between Dur Sukkot and Dur Alahass. The other royal name which occurs here in the chamber high up in the rock is that of Thothmes III., and it seems as if this king carried out works here with the view of perpetuating the memory of his great ancestor. According to Prof. Maspero," Usertsen III. made a razzia among the natives on the Tacazze river, or southern part of the Atbara. We know that this king began his conquest of the Sudan in the eighth year of his reign, and that he was still fighting in person in that country in the nineteenth year of his reign f it is therefore possible that he built forts at many places between Semna and the Fourth Cataract, of which all traces have been obliterated. The above facts show that his conquest of the Sudan was complete, and we may be certain that he made himself master of all the great trade centres, and levied taxes in slaves, gold, &c., on every caravan.

Amenemhat III., the son and successor of Usertsen III., had no need to wage war in Nubia during his long reign of nearly fifty years, and his chief work in that country was the fortress which he built at Dakka. It stood near the terminus of the road which leads to the gold mines in the Wadi 'Ulaki, or Akita, as it is called in the hieroglyphic inscriptions, and this fact suggests 1 See a valuable paper by M. de Vogue entitled " Fortifications de Semneh en Nubie," in the Bulletin Archltologique de rAthenaeum FraiKais, 1855, p. 81 ff.

- Hist. Ancienne, p. 127 ; Naville, Bubastis, pi. xxxiv. A., and pp. 9, 10.

' See Maspero, Afe/«»j, torn, i., p. 217.

549 L